Memoirs of Nuclear Weaponsman’s 30-year career working with the “Bomb”.
Excerpt
All of the Gunner’s Mate Technicians felt like an elite group of sailors in the Navy and on the ship. No one could get past the marines guarding our spaces, unless he had a badge. This situation irritated the MAA’s, as they had access to all areas of the ship in their enforcement duties, except ours. Our berthing compartment was purposely isolated from others on the ship to prevent the inadvertent disclosure of classified information. No one knew what our job was on the ship. We were shrouded in secrecy, and were told constantly that we were the “cream of the crop”. We were entrusted with the most powerful, deadly weapons on earth, and on our shoulders rested the fate of democracy, and our country. Our families, and loved ones lives depended on how diligently we performed our job. The failure of one weapon during nuclear war could determine whether we survived or perished. We had to be ready to go to war if “the button was pushed”. We didn’t dwell on the gruesome realities, but the fact was we would be the very first to know if nuclear war was declared, when we began pushing weapons out of the magazines onto the bomb elevators, and up to the loading crews. A question that was frequently asked of us during reliability briefings was; “If war were to begin in the next five minutes, and you knew that the weapon you were helping push out of the magazine, was going to be dropped on a city where millions of innocent women and children might be killed, would you hesitate, or have moral reservations?” I always said I would not hesitate and would do my duty. I reconciled this in my mind, by deciding it was the honorable and right thing to do protecting my loved ones, and country, and my fellow shipmates. I had to do the best job I could, and not dwell on the horrible end results of a nuclear war. In the depths of my soul I prayed that God would not permit these weapons to be used, but I also realized the importance these weapons played in preventing war. They were a constant deterrent, to those who desired global domination. There was always pressure to do our jobs flawlessly. Mistakes could not be tolerated.
Read more about Brotherhood of Doom: Memoirs of a Navy Nuclear Weaponsman and Jim Little HERE.
Copyright 2008 Jim Little. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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